Using HHO (Hydroxy) and hydrogen enriched castor oil biodiesel in compression ignition engine

Hydrogen and HHO enriched biodiesel fuels have not been investigated extensively for compression ignition engine. This study investigated the performance and emissions characteristics of a diesel engine fueled with hydrogen or HHO enriched Castor oil methyl ester (CME)-diesel blends. The production and blending of CME was carried out with a 20% volumetric ratio (CME20) using diesel fuel. In addition, the enrichment of intake air was carried out using pure HHO or hydrogen through the intake manifold with no structural changes – with the exception of the reduction of the amount of diesel fuel – for a naturally aspirated, four cylinder diesel engine with a volume of 3.6 L. Hydrogen amount was kept constant with a ratio of 10 L/min throughout the experiments. Engine performance parameters, including Brake Power, Brake Torque, Brake Specific Fuel Consumption and exhaust emissions – including NOx and CO, – were tested at engine speeds between 1200 and 2600 rpm. It is seen that HHO enriched CME has better results compared to pure hydrogen enrichment to CME. An average improvement of 4.3% with HHO enriched CME20 was found compared to diesel fuel results while pure hydrogen enriched CME20 fuel resulted with an average increase of 2.6%. Also, it was found that the addition of pure hydrogen to CME had a positive effect on exhaust gas emissions compared to that adding HHO. The effects of both enriched fuels on the engine performance were minimal compared to that of diesel fuel. However, the improvements on exhaust gas emissions were significant.     

Exergy analysis of diesel/biodiesel combustion in a homogenous charge compression ignition (HCCI) engine using three-dimensional model

Exergy analysis gives the presentation of a system relative to its best performance. In addition, the exergy destructed can react with its surrounding and harm environment processes. This study investigated the effect of biodiesel fuel blended with diesel fuel (i.e. 0%, 20%, and 50% blending of biodiesel fuel with conventional diesel fuel) on various exergy terms in an HCCI engine. To model the energy balance a 3-D CFD code was utilized. Using energy and combustion analyses results, the researchers calculated various exergy terms by developing a FORTRAN based code. To ensure the integrity of modeling, the results of the in-cylinder pressure and heat release rate were compared with the experimental results for pure diesel fuel. This comparison indicated a good agreement between the two. With crank position at three fuel compositions, different rates of exergy and cumulative exergy terms were identified and calculated separately. With the increase in the biodiesel volume percentage from 0% to 20% and 50%, exergy efficiency increased by 4.9% and 5.7%. Also, the cumulative heat loss exergy decreased by 4.4% and 9.7%, respectively.     

Effect of biodiesel fuels on diesel engine emissions

The call for the use of biofuels which is being made by most governments following international energy policies is presently finding some resistance from car and components manufacturing companies, private users and local administrations. This opposition makes it more difficult to reach the targets of increased shares of use of biofuels in internal combustion engines. One of the reasons for this resistance is a certain lack of knowledge about the effect of biofuels on engine emissions. This paper collects and analyzes the body of work written mainly in scientific journals about diesel engine emissions when using biodiesel fuels as opposed to conventional diesel fuels. Since the basis for comparison is to maintain engine performance, the first section is dedicated to the effect of biodiesel fuel on engine power, fuel consumption and thermal efficiency. The highest consensus lies in an increase in fuel consumption in approximate proportion to the loss of heating value. In the subsequent sections, the engine emissions from biodiesel and diesel fuels are compared, paying special attention to the most concerning emissions: nitric oxides and particulate matter, the latter not only in mass and composition but also in size distributions. In this case the highest consensus was found in the sharp reduction in particulate emissions.     

A cycle simulation model for predicting the performance of a diesel engine fuelled by diesel and biodiesel blends

Among the alternative fuels, biodiesel and its blends are considered suitable and the most promising fuel for diesel engine. The properties of biodiesel are found similar to that of diesel. Many researchers have experimentally evaluated the performance characteristics of conventional diesel engines fuelled by biodiesel and its blends. However, experiments require enormous effort, money and time. Hence, a cycle simulation model incorporating a thermodynamic based single zone combustion model is developed to predict the performance of diesel engine. The effect of engine speed and compression ratio on brake power and brake thermal efficiency is analysed through the model. The fuel considered for the analysis are diesel, 20%, 40%, 60% blending of diesel and biodiesel derived from Karanja oil (Pongamia Glabra). The model predicts similar performance with diesel, 20% and 40% blending. However, with 60% blending, it reveals better performance in terms of brake power and brake thermal efficiency.     

Properties and use of jatropha curcas oil and diesel fuel blends in compression ignition engine

In the present investigation the high viscosity of the jatropha curcas oil which has been considered as a potential alternative fuel for the compression ignition (C.I.) engine was decreased by blending with diesel. The blends of varying proportions of jatropha curcas oil and diesel were prepared, analyzed and compared with diesel fuel. The effect of temperature on the viscosity of biodiesel and jatropha oil was also studied. The performance of the engine using blends and jatropha oil was evaluated in a single cylinder C.I. engine and compared with the performance obtained with diesel. Significant improvement in engine performance was observed compared to vegetable oil alone. The specific fuel consumption and the exhaust gas temperature were reduced due to decrease in viscosity of the vegetable oil. Acceptable thermal efficiencies of the engine were obtained with blends containing up to 50% volume of jatropha oil. From the properties and engine test results it has been established that 40–50% of jatropha oil can be substituted for diesel without any engine modification and preheating of the blends.     

Experimental study of the effect of HHO gas injection on pollutants produced by a diesel engine at idle speed

In this study, with the aim of reducing the energy consumption in the production of HHO gas for use in the combustion process of diesel fuel, different modes of gas production were investigated using electrolyzers. According to previous studies, the energy consumption rate of the electrolyzer to produce a high volumetric flow of HHO gas is very high. This high rate will restrict the use of equipment such as high-capacity batteries. The effects of HHO gas injection at the idle speed of the engine at a low temperature were evaluated. Because in this situation, the engine makes high air pollution. The results showed that the percentage of CO, CO2, HC, and NOX gases decreased by 66%, 33%, 38%, and 11%, respectively. On the other hand, the amount of O2 gas in the exhaust increased by 18%. These results were reported for HHO gas injection from 10 to 45 ml/s. The performance of Group Method of Data Handling (GMDH) neural network was desirable in modeling diesel engine pollutants. Because the Root-Mean-Square Error (RMSE) criterion for all evaluated gases is less than 0.32. The GMDH neural network was used for modeling the operation of the diesel engine with HHO supplemental fuel. The GMDH results showed that this artificial network can measure all engine exhaust gases. It can be used as a sensor and virtual simulator for this diesel engine with HHO supplemental fuel.     

Exhaust emissions and electric energy generation in a stationary engine using blends of diesel and soybean biodiesel

The present work describes an experimental investigation concerning the electric energy generation using blends of diesel and soybean biodiesel. The soybean biodiesel was produced by a transesterification process of the soybean oil using methanol in the presence of a catalyst (KOH). The properties (density, flash point, viscosity, pour point, cetane index, copper strip corrosion, conradson carbon residue and ash content) of the diesel and soybean biodiesel were determined. The exhaust emissions of gases (CO, CO₂,C_xH_y,O₂, NO, NO_x and SO₂) were also measured. The results show that for all the mixtures tested, the electric energy generation was assured without problems. It has also been observed that the emissions of CO, C_xH_y and SO₂ decrease in the case of diesel–soybean biodiesel blends. The temperatures of the exhaust gases and the emissions of NO and NO_x are similar to or less than those of diesel.     

Experimental investigation of the performance and emissions of a heavy-duty diesel engine fueled with waste cooking oil biodiesel/ultra-low sulfur diesel blends

The major obstacle to biodiesel commercialization is the high cost of raw materials. Biodiesel from waste cooking oil is an economical source and thus an effective strategy for reducing the raw material cost. Using waste cooking oil also solves the problem of waste oil disposal. This study investigated the emissions of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), carcinogenic potencies and regulated matters, and brake specific fuel consumption from a heavy-duty diesel engine under the US-HDD transient cycle for five test fuels: ultra-low sulfur diesel (ULSD), WCOB5 (5 vol% biodiesel made from waste cooking oil + 95 vol% ULSD), WCOB10, WCOB20, and WCOB30. Experimental results indicate using ULSD/WCOB blends decreased PAHs by 7.53%-37.5%, particulate matter by 5.29%-8.32%, total hydrocarbons by 10.5%-36.0%, and carbon monoxide by 3.33%-13.1% as compared to using ULSD. The wide usage of WCOB blends as alternative fuels could protect the environment.     

Evaluation of vibration characteristics of a hydroxyl (HHO) gas generator installed diesel engine fuelled with different diesel–biodiesel blends

There are two main reasons of alternative fuel search of scientists: environmental problems resulted from combustion of fossil fuels and limited reserves of crude oil. Biodiesel and Hydrogen (H₂) are two of the most promising alternative fuels with their environmental friendly combustion profiles. The aim of this study was to evaluate vibration level of a hydroxyl (HHO) gas generator installed and diesel engine using different kinds of biodiesel fuels. In this study, at different flow rates, the effect of HHO gas addition on engine vibration performance was investigated with a Mitsubishi Canter 4D34-2A diesel engine. HHO gas introduced to the test engine via its intake manifold with 2, 4 and 6 L per minute (LPM) flow rates when the engine was fuelled with sunflower, canola, and corn biodiesels. The vibration data was collected between 1200 and 2400 rpm engine speeds by 300 rpm intervals. Finally, artificial neural network (ANN) approach was conducted in order to predict the effect of fuel properties and HHO amount on engine vibration level.     

Role of hydrogen in improving performance and emission characteristics of homogeneous charge compression ignition engine fueled with graphite oxide nanoparticle-added microalgae biodiesel/diesel blends

The development of low-temperature combustion models combined with the use of biofuels has been considered as an efficient strategy to reduce pollutant emissions like CO, HC. NO_x, and smoke. Indeed, Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) is the new approach to drastically minimize NO_x emissions and smoke owing to the lower cylinder temperature and a higher rate of homogeneous A/F mixture as compared to compression ignition (CI) engines. The present research deal with the behavior analysis of a CI engine powered by diesel, Euglena Sanguinea (ES), and their blends (ES20D80, ES40D60, ES60D40, ES80D20). The experimental results revealed the highest brake thermal efficiency for ES20D80 although it decreased by 4.1% compared to diesel at normal mode. The average drop in HC, CO, and smoke was 2.1, 2.3, and 5.7% for ES20D80 as opposed to diesel fuel. Therefore, in the next stage, ES20D80 with various concentrations of graphite oxide (GO) nanoparticle (20, 40, 60, and 80 ppm) was chosen to carry out experiments in the HCCI mode, in which hydrogen gas was induced along with air through the intake pipe at a fixed flow rate of 3 lpm for the enrichment of the air-fuel mixture. As a result, the combination of hydrogen-enriched gas and GO-added ES20D80 in the HCCI mode showed similar performance to the CI engine but registered a major reduction of NO_x and smoke emissions, corresponding to 75.24% and 53.07% respectively, as compared to diesel fuel at normal mode.     

Characterisation and effect of using waste plastic oil and diesel fuel blends in compression ignition engine

Plastics have now become indispensable materials in the modern world and application in the industrial field is continually increasing. The properties of the oil derived from waste plastics were analyzed and found that it has properties similar to that of diesel. Waste plastic oil (WPO) was tested as a fuel in a D.I. diesel engine and its performance characteristics were analysed and compared with diesel fuel (DF) operation. It is observed that the engine could operate with 100% waste plastic oil and can be used as fuel in diesel engines. Oxides of nitrogen (NO_x) was higher by about 25% and carbon monoxide (CO) increased by 5% for waste plastic oil operation compared to diesel fuel (DF) operation. Hydrocarbon was higher by about 15%. Smoke increased by 40% at full load with waste plastic oil compared to DF. Engine fueled with waste plastic oil exhibits higher thermal efficiency upto 80% of the full load and the exhaust gas temperature was higher at all loads compared to DF operation.     

Impact of HHO gas enrichment and high purity biodiesel on the performance of a 315 cc diesel engine

Biodiesel and oxyhydrogen (HHO) gas have shown promising results in improving engine performance and emissions. In this work, the effects of HHO gas and 5% biodiesel blends (B5) and their combined use in a 315 cc diesel engine have been analyzed. Biodiesel is produced by base catalyzed transesterification and cleaned by emulsification. Its calculated cetane index (CCI) was 61.4. HHO gas is produced from electrolysis of concentrated potassium hydroxide solution. The use of 5% biodiesel blend resulted in a significant rise of 9.4% in the brake thermal efficiency (BTE) and a maximum reduction of 8.19% in the brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC). HHO enrichment of diesel and biodiesel at 2.81 L/min through the intake manifold improved the torque and power by an average of over 3%. HHO addition also improved the BTE of diesel by a maximum of 3.67%. The combination of high CCI biodiesel fuel and HHO creates a mixture that has shortened the ignition delay (ID) to the point that adverse effects were observed due to the premature combustion as shown by the average decrease in the BTE of 2.97% compared to B5. Thus, B5, on its own, is found to be the optimum fuel under these conditions.     

Impacts of low temperature combustion and diesel post injection on the in-cylinder production of hydrogen in a lean-burn compression ignition engine

Strategies were investigated for increased in-cylinder formation of hydrogen. The use of low intake oxygen with a post injection was proposed. An intake oxygen sweep was conducted on a lean-burn compression ignition engine by adjusting of the exhaust gas recirculation rate. The results revealed that the yield of hydrogen increased exponentially when the intake oxygen was reduced to achieve low temperature combustion. Further tests showed that low temperature combustion operation consistently produced more hydrogen than high temperature combustion for similar air-to-fuel ratios.To increase the hydrogen yield further, a post injection timing sweep was carried out with low temperature combustion operation. Increased yields of hydrogen were obtained, up to 0.76% by volume, when then the post injection timing was advanced from 70 to 20° crank angle after top dead centre. At the same time, the indicated NO_X emissions reduced to 0.013 g/kW·hr and the smoke emissions were 0.14 FSN. Thus, the tests established that the combination of low temperature combustion, low intake oxygen, and an early post injection produced a high yield of hydrogen with simultaneously ultra-low NO_X and smoke emissions. The main drawback of this strategy was the increased formation of methane, up to 3015 ppm by volume. However, further analysis showed that the hydrogen to methane ratio actually increased under low temperature combustion operation.     

Assessing idling effects on a compression ignition engine fueled with Jatropha and Palm biodiesel blends

In this study, performance of a diesel engine operated with Jatropha and Palm biodiesel blends at high idling conditions has been evaluated. The result obtained from experiment elucidate that, at all idling modes HC and CO emissions of both blends decreases, however, NO_x emissions increases compared to pure diesel fuel. Jatropha biodiesel has higher viscosity compared to Palm biodiesel, which might have degraded the spray characteristics and caused slightly improper mixing which might have led to slightly incomplete combustion, thus at both idling conditions, Jatropha blends emitted higher CO and HC compared to Palm biodiesels. Compared to diesel fuel, CO emissions were 5.9–9.7%, 17.6–22.6%, 23.5–29%, 2.9–6.4%, 5.9–14.5% and 11.8–17.74% less, HC emissions were 10.3–11.5%, 24.13–30.76%, 34.5–39%, 6.9–7.7%, 26–27% and 31–35% less and NO_x emissions were 8.3–9.5%, 14–15%, 22–25%, 5–7.14%, 10–11.3% and 17–18% more respectively for 5, 10 and 20% blends of Palm and Jatropha biodiesel. Compared to diesel fuel, at high idling conditions brake specific fuel consumption all Palm and Jatropha biodiesel–diesel blends increased. Compared to diesel fuel, BSFC were 1.14–1.35%, 2.28–2.96%, 7.1–8.35%, 2.28–2.69%, 3.98–5.39% and 8.83–9.29% more respectively for 5, 10 and 20% blends of Palm and Jatropha biodiesel.     

Evaluating combustion,performance and emission characteristics of diesel engine using karanja oil methyl ester biodiesel blends enriched with HHO gas

With a specific end goal to take care of the worldwide demand for energy, a broad research is done to create alternative and cost effective fuel. The fundamental goal of this examination is to investigate the combustion, performance and emission characteristics of diesel engine using biodiesel blends enriched with HHO gas. The biodiesel blends are gotten by blending KOME obtained from transesterification of karanja oil in various proportions with neat diesel. The HHO gas is produced by the electrolysis of water in the presence of sodium bicarbonate electrolyte. The constant flow of HHO gas accompanied with biodiesel guarantees lessened brake specific fuel consumption by 2.41% at no load and 17.53% at full load with increased the brake thermal efficiency by 2.61% at no load and 21.67% at full load contrasted with neat diesel operation. Noteworthy decline in unburned hydrocarbon, carbon monoxide, carbon-dioxide emissions and particulate matter with the exception of NO_x discharge is encountered. The addition of EGR controls this hike in NO_x with a slight decline in the performance characteristics. It is clear that the addition of HHO gas with biodiesel blends along with EGR in the test engine improved the overall characterization of engine.     

Performance of a diesel engine fueled by waste cooking oil biodiesel

A direct injection diesel engine fueled by a diesel/biodiesel blend from waste cooking oil up to B100 (a blend of 100% biodiesel content) indicated a combustion efficiency rise by 1.8% at full load. The soot peak volume fraction was reduced by 15.2%, while CO and HC concentrations respectively decreased by 20 and 28.5%. The physical and chemical delay periods respectively diminished by 1.2 and 15.8% for engine noise to pronounce 6.5% reduction. Injection retarding by 5° reduced NO_x to those original levels of B0 (a blend of zero biodiesel content) and combined respective reduction magnitudes of 10 and 7% in CO and HC at 75% load. Increasing the speed reduced CO and HC respectively by 26 and 42% at 2.36 times the droplet average strain rate. By coupling the turbulence model to the spray break-up and chemical kinetics models, increasing the injection pressure simultaneously reduced CO, HC and NO_x at 17% exhaust gas recirculation ratio.     

Hydrogen combustion in a compression ignition diesel engine

The investigation presented in this paper concerns both pure hydrogen combustion under HCCI (homogeneous charge compression ignition) conditions and hydrogen–diesel co-combustion in a compression ignition (CI) engine.     

Homogeneous charge compression ignition engine operating on synthesis gas

Mixtures of hydrogen and carbon monoxide were used to simulate the fuel component of synthesis gas and operate a single cylinder engine in homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) mode. The engine was originally an air-cooled direct injection (DI) compression ignition (CI) engine. The original diesel fuel injection system was removed and a port fuel injection (PFI) system with intake air heating was added. The engine speed was maintained at a constant 1800 RPM.     

Performance & emission analysis of HHO enriched dual-fuelled diesel engine with artificial neural network prediction approaches

Most of the studies on conventional fuel types that can be used in internal combustion engines have been made in order to improve performance values. Nowadays environmental problems have shown that emission values are more important and interest in low carbon alternative fuels has highly increased in recent years. In this study, performance and emission values of soybean biodiesel (B25) fuel mixture used in diesel engine were investigated in detail by making different ratios of hydroxy (HHO) enrichment (3, 5 and 7 L/min). HHO enrichments increased brake torque and power outputs with direct correlation to flow rate amount; at the same time brake specific fuel consumption has decreased. Also, one of the main objectives of this study is to predict the optimum hydrogen requirement against performance reductions and NO_x formations among test fuels (3, 5, and 7 L/min HHO enriched B25), too by using artificial intelligence. For developing the ANN structure, Levenberg-Marquardt (LM) learning algorithm was used to adjust the weights in the cascade forward network. The results show that the ANN model has 95,82%, 96,07%, and 92,35% estimation accuracies for motor torque, motor power, and NO_x emission, respectively.     

Impact of HHO produced from dry and wet cell electrolyzers on diesel engine performance,emissions and combustion characteristics

Water electrolysis produces HHO gas by using sodium hydroxide catalyst. Dry and wet cells designs are applied producing the gas flow rates at 0.5 and 0.75 LPM, respectively. Tests are done in a diesel engine at engine speed variation and full load. Performance, combustion characteristics and emissions investigations of diesel engines using HHO gas from dry and wet cells are performed. HHO gas addition enhances the brake thermal efficiency by 2 and 2.5% but the exhaust gas temperature highest decreases for dry and wet cells are 8 and 10%, respectively about diesel oil. The maximum decreases are evaluated as for CO (15, 22%), HC (31, 39%), NO_x (35, 42%) and smoke emissions (25, 35%), respectively for dry and wet cells about diesel fuel. The improvements in cylinder pressures are 5 and 10%, respectively and the heat release rate enhancements are 4.5 and 6.5%, respectively about pure diesel for dry and wet configurations.